Preview

The urbane Rhode Island saxophonist Scott Hamilton did the opposite of what most of his jazz generation were doing in the 1960s. Hamilton hit 20 when the John Coltrane Quartet was on its awesome roll, and Miles Davis was leading Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter in one of the hippest cutting-edge bands jazz has ever known. But Hamilton loved the smoky romanticism of Ben Webster, the delicate embroidery of Lester Young, the cruising swing of Zoot Sims - all saxophonists who flinched from ever making a discordant or un-songlike sound.

Since comin'g to the attention of swing star Benny Goodman in the 1960s, he's occupied a central place on the mainstream jazz circuit. Hamilton's work sounds as familiar as a standard song, but it's never predictable, and the care he takes with every sound isn't just a technical achievement but the secret of a unique kind of jazz eloquence.